Tilting umbrella with actuator having operating location on lower shaft to tilt upper shaft

ABSTRACT

An umbrella frame includes an upper shaft part  2  and a lower shaft part  1 , the two parts being connected by a tilting joint to enable the upper part to tilt with respect to the lower, a runner  4  sliding on the lower shaft part  1 , for spreading a cover on the umbrella frame into its unfurled configuration when slid upwardly, and an actuator connected to the upper shaft part  2  and passing down the shaft, through or past the runner  4  when in its upper position with the umbrella open, to an operating location on the lower shaft part  1 , the actuator being accessible at its lower end to allow an operator to tilt the upper shaft part  2.

The invention concerns a mechanism for tilting an umbrella and isparticularly useful for a sun umbrella or parasol of the type that isused to provide shade or shelter at tables and so on. The tiltingfacility allows the cover of the umbrella to be angled as required bythe position of the sun or the direction of wind or rain.

Larger static umbrellas are often operated by means of a handlemechanism such as a crank or draw cord, because the top of the umbrellais too high to reach or is too heavy. The handle is provided at a leveleasy for the user to reach and is connected by some mechanism such as achain, cord or rack to the runner of the umbrella, i.e. the moving partto which the stretchers are attached. The crank thus serves both to liftand lower the runner to raise the umbrella into its unfurled position,and to lower it again when required.

Tilting of the umbrella can most simply be carried out by hand. However,some “automatic” versions exist in which the tilting action takes placeas the runner reaches its top position, i.e. when the umbrella iscompletely unfurled. At this point further movement of the runnerengages a further member associated with the shaft near the tiltingjoint, causing the tilt to be carried out. In most tilting umbrellas,such as for instance in U.S. Pat. No. 3,850,186 (Weber et al.), U.S.Pat. No. 4,697,606 (Ma) or U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,596 (Tung) the runnerfirst slides on to the upper shaft part, and then tilts with it.

There also exist devices of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,182,673and others by S N Small, where the tilt is above the runner. While thesehave been known for a long time they involve the disadvantage that theinsertion of a considerable number of connecting parts into the shaft isproblematic from the manufacturing point of view.

WO 99/56579 by the present applicant discloses a tilting umbrellawherein the tilting hinge is located above the runner and the tiltingaction is brought about by movement of the runner, as in the Smallpatents. However, in contrast to the Small patents the runner pushes alever connected to and arranged outside the upper shaft part. Thisavoids the problem of having numerous connecting parts within the shaftand therefore is beneficial from a manufacturing perspective.

However, this umbrella and the Small patents suffer the problem that thetilting mechanism is dependent on the mechanism that moves the runner.Therefore, when the runner is in the position wherein the cover of theumbrella is fully unfurled with the cover stretched, and the furthermovement of the runner is transformed into tilting of the umbrella, thetilting travel is against the cover tension, thereby requiring moreeffort from the user.

It is an aim of the present invention to mitigate the variousdisadvantages of the prior art devices, and furthermore to provide atilting mechanism that has few parts and requires little modification tothe basic umbrella construction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention there is provided an umbrella frame includingan upper shaft part and a lower shaft part, the two parts beingconnected by a tilting joint to enable the upper part to tilt withrespect to the lower, a runner sliding on the lower shaft part, forspreading the cover of the umbrella into its unfurled configuration whenslid upwardly, and an actuator connected to the upper shaft part andpassing down the shaft, through or past the runner when in its upperposition with the umbrella open, to an operating location on the lowershaft part, the actuator being accessible at its lower end to allow anoperator to tilt the upper shaft part.

The actuator may comprise a lever and cranked rod arrangement wherein alever is disposed outside the upper shaft part and is pivotablyconnected to the upper shaft part at its top end and to the rod at itsbottom end, the upper cranked end of the rod extending through an axialslot in the lower shaft part and the body of the rod extending axiallydownwards to an operating location.

The rod may extend axially downwards inside or outside the lower shaftpart; if the lower shaft part is not hollow the rod may extend, forinstance, in an axial groove on the surface of the lower shaft part.

The cranked end of the rod may alternatively connect directly to a pivotextension of the upper shaft part, horizontal movement of the pivotbeing accommodated by allowing the rod to slide through the pivot jointor by simple flexing of the rod, or a combination of both.

At the operating location, the lower end of the rod may likewise be bentoutwards to extend through a second slot in the lower shaft so as to beaccessible directly. Alternatively a lever mechanism can be interposed,such as a sleeve surrounding the shaft with an internal recess in theform of a helical screw. The lower end of the rod engages in the recessand, with the sleeve held captive but rotatable about the shaft axis, israised or lowered by rotating the sleeve. The sleeve could beincorporated into the mechanism used for unfurling the umbrella. Anotherpossibility is to have the lower end of the rod connected to a secondlever at the operating location, enabling the operator to tilt the uppershaft by moving the second lever. Any other lever mechanism can beconsidered, e.g. rack-and-pinion, cam or crank. Furthermore any of thesemechanisms can be operated manually or by means of a motor.

Because the tilting lever is outside the shaft the modification of theshaft construction can be minimised. The invention preserves theadvantage of stability afforded by having the runner slide only on thelower shaft part, i.e. with the tilt joint above the runner. Also thelever arrangement allows a particularly simple construction with at mostfour moving parts other than the runner, namely the two levers, the rod,and the upper shaft part. If the rod is moved directly by means of ahandle or knob attached to its lowermost end, only three moving partsare needed other than the runner, or only two if the rod is connecteddirectly to the upper shaft part.

Preferably, the tilt axis is located radially outwards of the axis ofthe shaft, and the attachment of the lever to the upper shaft is about ahinge generally on a level with and parallel to the tilt axis, on theopposite side with respect to the axis of the umbrella shaft so as toafford the necessary leverage. The system can then be wellcounterbalanced, with little force needed for the tilt action.

The runner can be raised by hand or by means of a crank, draw cord orother means lower down on the lower shaft part, i.e. accessible to auser, and in the case of a crank some device such as a cable or rackmechanism for transforming the turning action into a lift of the runner.The raising mechanism can be integrated with the tilt lever mechanism,if present.

For a better understanding of the invention an embodiment of it will nowbe described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a view of a runner and tilting mechanism assemblyrepresenting a first embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 shows a view of a runner and tilting mechanism assemblyrepresenting a second embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 shows an exploded perspective view of a tilting mechanismassembly representing a third embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 4 a and 4 b show the tilting mechanism of FIG. 3 on an umbrellashaft; and

FIG. 5 shows an exploded perspective view of the tilting mechanism ofFIG. 3 on an umbrella shaft.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

In FIG. 1 the relevant parts of an umbrella shaft in accordance with theinvention are shown. It is in two parts, a lower part 1 and an upperpart 2 pivoting on the lower about an axis 3. At the top of the upperpart 2, though not shown, there is the usual head with ribs extendingradially and supporting a cover. On the lower shaft part there is aslider or runner 4 from which extend, likewise radially andcorresponding in number to the ribs, stretchers 5 meeting the ribssomewhere along their length so as to hold them extended with the covertaut when the umbrella is in use, i.e. with the runner in the uppermostposition as shown. To fold the umbrella the runner 4 is slid down thelower shaft part 1 in the usual way, after releasing a catch.

The tilt action of the upper shaft is effected by an actuator includinga lever 7 extending from an attachment point near the base of the uppershaft part 2 downwards alongside the lower shaft part 1 to a crankedconnecting rod 6. The lever 7 is pivoted near its upper end on a pin 8located parallel to, and at approximately the same height as, the pivot3 in a suitably shaped base portion 9 of the upper shaft 2. The axes 3and 8 lie on opposite sides of the central shaft axis. The other end ofthe lever 7 is attached by a suitable means to the uppermost end of therod 6.

The lower shaft part 1 is in fact made in two sections, the upper orhinge section 1 a and the lower section 1 b, providing the main lengthof the shaft. This allows the main length to be made of simple metaltube, while the top of the hinge section 1 a is moulded in plastics toprovide the more complex hinge and runner-catch portions. The hingesection 1 a of the lower shaft part 1 is sufficiently long toaccommodate the lever 7, say about 20 cm long, and has an end portionwith ridges for insertion into the lower section or pole 1 b. At its topend, in the vicinity of and to one side of the hinge, the shaft section1 a has a boss 10 extending outwards, in which is a groove constitutinga guide for a cord, not shown, used to raise the runner. On the oppositeside to the hinge, i.e. to the axis 3, the upper section 1 a has a slotthrough which the uppermost end of the rod 6 protrudes, as can be seenin FIG. 1. This end of the rod 6 is connected to the lever 7.

The rod 6 extends inside the lower shaft part 1, bypassing the runner,from the slot in the upper hinge section 1 a to a second aperture orslot located in the lower section 1 b in a position that is convenientfor the user. If an auxiliary mechanism, such as a cord and crank, ispresent for raising the runner, this position can be close to that ofthe auxiliary mechanism, e.g. the crank. The lowermost end of the rod 6extends as far as the second slot and is attached to a means forapplying upward force to the rod 6, which in this embodiment is anotherlever 11. The rod is entirely independent of the runner and preferablydoes not touch it. The operating lever is pivoted on a pin 12 attachedto the lower section 1 b of the lower shaft part at the second slot.

The runner 4 could be of conventional construction, though inembodiments where the actuator is entirely outside the shaft there hasto be some provision for a rod or other connector to pass through orpast the runner. If the runner is designed to be raised manually itwould have a descending sleeve adapted to the grip of an operator.

In terms of materials, both shaft parts 1, 2, the rod and the lever 7can be made for instance of wood, a plastics material, a composite, ametal, or any suitable alloy, the latter particularly in the case of theshaft. Typically the hinge section 1 a of the lower shaft part 1 can bemade of a plastics material such as acetals or nylon, the pole of metalsuch as aluminium or steel, and the upper shaft section 2 of nylon. Thelevers 7, 11 can be made of acetals, while one or both parts of therunner 4 can be made of a cheaper plastics material such as HDPE(high-density polyethylene).

Operation of the umbrella from the folded state is as follows. Therunner is first raised, by hand or by a mechanism such as acrank-operated cord passing up through the shaft, returning round theguide 10 and down to the runner 4, until the runner is raisedsufficiently far for the ribs and stretchers 5 to be extended and thecover taut. At this point the runner is in its uppermost position. Ifthe umbrella is to stay straight this is the end of the operation.

If the user wants to tilt the umbrella he simply pushes the lower lever11 down, which results in the rod 6 moving upwards along the axis of thelower shaft part 1, and the upper lever 7 concomitantly travellingupwards and exerting a torque, via its attachment point 8, on the baseportion 9, around the hinge 3 on the upper shaft part 2, thereby tiltingthe upper shaft part 2. The design of this embodiment of the inventionis such that the tilt action is well counterbalanced, providing theadditional benefit that only moderate force need be applied to the lowerlever 11. During the tilt movement the runner does not move.

For the reverse operation the lower lever 11 is moved in the oppositedirection. In this regard, it is advantageous that the rod 6 can also beused to pull the upper lever 7 downwards, because this allows a positive“untilting” operation as well as the tilting.

According to another embodiment of the invention the lowermost end ofthe actuator rod 6 extends through the second slot in the lower section1 b and simply has a handle or knob 13 attached to its end on theoutside of the shaft, as shown in FIG. 2. In this embodiment, the userdrives the actuator rod 6 directly up the shaft.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the invention in which the “handle” of theactuator comprises a sleeve 14 surrounding the shaft with an internalrecess in the form of a helical groove 15. In this example the sleevehas lugs 16, which engage under a casing 17 surrounding a connector body22. The connector body 22 has a circumferential groove 24 in which thelugs 16 are retained so that the sleeve 14 can rotate without axialmovement. The connector body houses a mechanism for raising and loweringthe runner (not shown) and also acts to connect the shaft 1 to a baseshaft, not shown. A handle (not shown) may be inserted in the hole 18 inthe casing 17.

FIGS. 4 a and 4 b show the actuator of FIG. 3 in position on the shaftof the umbrella. The actuator rod 6 emerges from within the shaft andthe protruding lower end of the actuator rod 6 engages in the helicalscrew thread 15 and is raised or lowered by rotating the sleeve 14. Thishas the advantage that it is, or can be made, self-locking. The lugs 16can be seen under the casing 17. A handle 19 attached to the casing 17is shown; this handle operates the mechanism for unfurling the umbrella,which is not shown. FIG. 4 b also shows the ledge or catch 23 moulded onthe upper section 1 a, on which the runner rests in its upper position;it also remains there during the tilting procedure.

FIG. 5 shows an exploded view of the umbrella shaft shown in crosssection in FIGS. 4 a and 4 b. In the assembled shaft the actuator rod 6passes through a first slot 20 in the upper portion 1 a of the lowershaft part. The rod 6 then passes through the lower portion 1 b of thelower shaft part and emerges from a slot 21 in the lower portion. Thesleeve 14 fits over the lower portion 1 b so that the end of theactuator rod 6 emerging from the slot 21 engages with the screw thread15. The casing 17 then fits over the connector body 22 and the sleeve 14as shown in FIGS. 4 a and 4 b. This fitting must hold the sleeve so asto prevent longitudinal movement while allowing it to rotate freely. Theaxial extent of the sleeve determines the longitudinal movement of therod, and hence the amount of tilt of the upper shaft part 2.

1. An umbrella frame including: an upper shaft part and a lower shaftpart, the two parts being connected in such a way that the upper shaftpart can tilt with respect to the lower shaft part; a runner sliding onthe lower shaft part, for spreading a cover on the umbrella frame intoan unfurled configuration when slid upwardly; and an actuator connectedto the upper shaft part and extending down the lower shaft part, throughor past the runner when in the runner is in an upper position with theumbrella frame open, to an operating location on the lower shaft part,the actuator being accessible at a lower end of the actuator so that auser can tilt the upper shaft part.
 2. An umbrella frame according toclaim 1, wherein the actuator comprises a lever and cranked rodarrangement wherein the lever is disposed outside and extending alongthe upper shaft part, is pivotably connected to the upper shaft part ata top end of the lever, and is pivotably connected to the rod at abottom end of the lever, an upper cranked end of the rod extending outthrough a substantially axial slot at a top of the lower shaft part andthe body of the rod extending to an operating location below the upperposition of the runner.
 3. An umbrella frame according to claim 2,wherein a lower end of the rod extends outwards through a secondsubstantially axial slot in the lower shaft.
 4. An umbrella frameaccording to claim 2, wherein a lower end of the rod is connected to anoperating lever at the operating location, enabling the upper shaft tobe tilted by moving the operating lever.
 5. An umbrella frame accordingto claim 1, wherein the actuator comprises a cranked rod arrangement,and wherein an upper cranked end of the rod connects directly to a pivotextension of the upper shaft part, horizontal movement of the pivotextension being accommodated by allowing the rod to slide through thepivot extension and/or by flexing of the rod.
 6. An umbrella frameaccording to claim 5, wherein a lower end of the rod extends outwardsthrough a second substantially axial slot in the lower shaft part.
 7. Anumbrella frame according to claim 5, wherein a sleeve surrounds thelower shaft part, the sleeve having an internal recess in the form of asubstantially helical screw thread, a lower end of the rod protrudingfrom a slot in the lower shaft part and engaging in the internal recessand the sleeve being rotatable about an axis of the lower shaft part, sothat the lower end of the rod is raised or lowered by rotating thesleeve.
 8. An umbrella frame according to claim 7, wherein the sleeve isincorporated into a mechanism used for unfurling the umbrella frame. 9.An umbrella frame according to claim 1, wherein the actuator comprises acranked rod arrangement and a sleeve, where the sleeve surrounds thelower shaft part, the sleeve having an internal recess in the form of asubstantially helical screw thread, a lower end of the rod protrudingfrom a slot in the lower shaft part and engaging in the internal recessand the sleeve being rotatable about an axis at the lower shaft part, sothat the lower end of the rod is raised or lowered by rotating thesleeve.
 10. An umbrella frame according to claim 9, wherein the sleeveis incorporated into a mechanism used for unfurling the umbrella frame.11. An umbrella frame according to claim 1, wherein a tilt axis of theupper shaft part is located radially outwards of the axis of the lowershaft part, and the attachment of the actuator to the upper shaft partis about a hinge, an axis of the hinge being generally on a level withand parallel to the tilt axis, on the opposite side of the axis of thelower shaft part.
 12. An umbrella frame according to claim 1, furthercomprising raising means for raising the runner situated on the lowershaft part.
 13. An umbrella frame according to claim 12, wherein theraising means comprises a crank.